What's it like to be a reporter for the Times?

When the Roosevelt Education Center became engulfed in flames in the late evening June 14, Marta Jewson was in Minneapolis with her family for Father's Day. She received a call from her editor at St. Cloud Times at 1 a.m. June 15 saying she needed to return to St. Cloud to report on the fire. It wasn't a matter of if she could cancel her plans, but how quickly she could get back.

By 3 a.m. she'd returned to St. Cloud, getting five hours of sleep before heading to the scene. She was exhausted, but her needs were secondary to producing stories about the fire.

Jeans, work boots and a raincoat were her means of protection against the heavy smoke and rain. The smoke in the air made it hard to breath, and police tape surrounded the remains of the building as firefighters were still dousing the flames. She spent four hours watching the scene unfold, interviewing public officials and bystanders.

"I think those are the situations in which you can really serve as a strong communicator for the community. Those are the instances where you can really own your craft," Jewson said.

Jewson is the education reporter for the Times. She studied journalism and education policy at the University of Wisconsin.

Initially, her interests were in math and social sciences, but it wasn't long before she realized that journalism would be her path. In eighth grade, Jewson and her classmates were preparing to take a standardized test. She'd been told by her teachers to wear comfortable clothes during the exam.

When most of her peers showed up in pajamas, the school principal wouldn't let anyone wearing pajamas take the test, and those students received in-school suspensions. Frustrated, Jewson demanded attention.

"So I finished taking the test, and I wrote a letter to the principal, and I had all my classmates sign it, and we brought it to the principal. That was kind of one of those moments when I realized that words can have power and authority and opportunity to communicate and bring truth," she said. "I don't remember anything big coming of it. I think it was more of a personal milestone than it was anything coming out of it from the administration."

While she's only been with the Times since December — after spending time in New Orleans working for two nonprofits, building houses for low-income people and reporting on charter schools — Jewson is one of 15 full-time reporters and writes 5-15 articles a week, depending on the type of content and depth of stories. Her ability to produce multiple stories comes from her fierce engagement skills.

"I think one of the most important things in being a reporter is having the confidence and trust of your sources. I absolutely try to foster those relationships. ... You can't just have a byline and go home at the end of the day," Jewson said. "You're always a reporter."

"She's not afraid to try new things. I noticed that she's using hashtags that help people on Twitter follow the school district activity in each of the three districts that we cover the most," Halena said. "She came up with those. Those were her ideas, and I am thrilled whenever a reporter latches on to a new way of reaching the audiences that are important to us."

Fear isn't an emotion that Jewson carries when reporting or thinking about the future of journalism. She knows the industry is changing. She said what reporters need is the trust of their readers so they'll want to contribute to the work being done.

It's also part of her goal to own her area of coverage and earn the communities' trust and confidence.

Perhaps that's why Halena, who's been the managing editor since 2006, thinks Jewson could be a Pulitzer Prize winner and a great investigative reporter.